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Wednesday, 14th May 2008

Diesel squad predicts tougher challenge as WTCC returns to European soil.

Despite dominating the World Touring Car Championship season thus far, the SEAT Sport team has admitted it expects a more challenging weekend as the series returns to Europe this weekend in Valencia.

The team has won all four races run this season, in Brazil and Mexico, to lead BMW in the manufacturers' championship while the returning Rickard Rydell currently heads the drivers' standings ahead of team-mates Gabriele Tarquini and Yvan Muller.

Indeed, SEAT currently holds five of the top six positions in the championship standings, with defending champion Andy Priaulx being the only non-SEAT man amongst the diesel brigade.

SEAT however will face an extra challenge on home soil in Spain, with the touring car bureau having elected to limit the engine speed of the Leon TDi to 4100rpm while also limiting the fuel rail pressure, the fuel/air ratio and the average maximum values measured with the FIA homologated data logger during the Curitiba event. This supercharged air pressure limit will be corrected by the atmospheric pressure ratio between Curitiba and Valencia.

With the majority of the SEAT runners also carrying extra success weight due to the results secured so far, chief track engineer Xavi Serra admitted that BMW and Chevrolet could well be stronger at the Valencia circuit.

"Due to the extra weight we've accumulated, there will be greater wear on our cars' tyres than before, and the hotter the weather the worse it'll be for us," he said. "The Valencia track's curves favour BMW, and Chevrolet will also benefit from carrying little ballast. This situation puts us in difficult territory. We could end up with a good result in the classification, but we'll have more problems during the race, at least in the first one."

Points leader Rydell agreed that it could be tough for the team to maintain its winning form onto European soil and he admitted that his focus for the weekend was simply to score an many points as possible.

"The excellent level we've managed to achieve at the first two races will be difficult to maintain in Valencia," he said. "The upcoming race is important for SEAT because we're competing on home ground, and my objective is to rack up as many points as possible."

Of the SEAT drivers, Jordi Gene will have more reason than most to go for victory in his home round of the season but the Spaniard said he would be keeping his feet on the ground when it comes to evaluating his chances.

"We're looking forward to the race in Valencia," he said. "We've always done well in Cheste, and I hope this year won't be an exception, but we have to be realistic since we'll be carrying so much more weight than our rivals."

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